News + Features

Siberian Cats Have Taken Over A Russian Family Farm

Incredible close up photos of some fluffy, fearless felines

By Catalina Barrios

Imagine living on a farm with lots of land where you can grow your favorite plants and make a home for animals. This is certainly my mother’s dream. My mom has always imagined drinking her morning coffee outside while admiring the beautiful landscape, surrounded by friendly pets.

Now imagine waking up one day during the cold winter season to find a rather surprising amount of large cats in your backyard. This would be the penultimate surprise for most cat lovers, and is akin to a kid waking up in a toy store on Christmas morning.

For the past 10 years, Russian farmer Alla Lebedeva and her husband Sergey have been raising cats. The couple live on a farm in the settlement of Prigorodny, outside Barnabul, Siberia. Their farm has been a destination of choice for what Lebedeva calls “millions” of cats for over a decade.

This family hadn’t had cats on their farm until 2004 when they welcomed Babushka, their first furry feline, a Siberian cat breed. Babushka later went on to give birth to five kittens and ever since, the family’s farm has became overrun with feline furballs.

Alla, who has dubbed herself ‘Queen of Cats’ says the cats enjoy sleeping in the henhouse. She calls this a win-win situation; Alla and Sergey provide shelter for the cats, and in return, the cats protect the chickens and rabbits from rats and mice. Even cats must pull their weight when farm work is concerned!

Alla, who loves taking videos and pictures, started posting and sharing content featuring the cats a couple of years ago. Shorty after, her posts went viral across social media. Many of the cats were originally credited as being ‘Norwegian Forest Cats’ instead of Siberian. Lebedeva wants to inform everyone that all the cats in her photos and videos are in fact Siberian natives.